Texas Chili Dogs – Porchester, NY

Ahhhhhh, Texas Chili Dogs!  A food with a story, and oh so dear to my heart (and stomach)!

No they’re not from Texas, but Port Chester, NY (of all places). Texas Chili is a restaurant that’s been around at least 50 years, although the name and ownership has changed through the years.  It’s a place that my Grandfather and Dad used to frequent when he was a little boy. It’s a “hole in the wall”, my Dad used to say. It’s a small diner that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The house specialty has always been “the Texas”, a split-and-grilled hot dog topped with chili, chopped raw onions, and Gulden’s mustard. If you leave out any of these ingredients, it’s not a “Texas”. What makes this chili dog so tasty is the spicy ground-beef, no-bean chili.

When my Dad was just a boy, he and his friends used to hang out here with older boys that could afford to get a dog. The “Texas” dogs were wrapped in wax paper. Of course the chili would spill onto the wax paper, making the wax paper a much wanted commodity to the younger boys! They would hang around just to get the older boys’ wax paper!

Well my Dad passed on the tradition, and we visited Texas Chili quite often growing up, but we didn’t have to beg for the wax paper. My dad also spent many years trying to copy the chili recipe, and he passed that along as well!  So enjoy!

Ingredients

• • 1 pound 85/15 ground beef
  • 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
  • 4 teaspoons chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 teaspoons Gulden’s mustard
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 2 small whole red chili peppers
  • Hebrew National or Nathan’s All Beef Hot Dogs
  • Hot Dog buns

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Instructions

• 1. Cook ground beef in a sauce pan over medium-high heat, chopping beef into fine crumbles and until it is no longer pink; drain well, remove beef from pan.
  2. Sauté onion in hot oil for 5 minutes. Add beef back to pan, along with salt, chili powder, cumin, dry mustard and cook 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in 1 cup water and next 3 ingredients. Bring to a simmer; cover with lid and reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 45 minutes or until most of the liquid evaporates.

• Hot Dogs

  1. Slit all beef hot dog down the middle and fry split side down in a lightly oiled or buttered frying pan until hot dog is browned. Put hot dog in toasted bun slit side up. Add Gulden’s mustard, chili, and raw chopped onions. Serve.